The adviser to the president of Ukraine said that gender minorities have “abnormalities” – there are also minorities on the front, activists remind

In Ukraine, advisor to the president’s office Alexei Arestovich has caused a stir with his talk about sexual and gender minority jobs.

– I treat LGBT representatives as people who have deviations from behavioral norms. Above all, one must see a person in a person, as long as he does not degrade society or other people, Arestoviš said With your YouTube video (you will switch to another service) in June, just a few days before the country was accepted as an EU candidate.

He also added that he has compassion for sexual minorities, but does not accept their propaganda in any form.

These statements by a high-ranking official caused outrage in Ukrainian human rights organizations. KyivPride, an organization that defends the rights of LGBT+ people, was the first to react.

They urged the president Volodymyr Zelenskyi to dismiss Arestoviš from the position of adviser. According to them, the rhetoric in question from those in power is inappropriate if Ukraine wants to become part of the EU.

– We are surprised that in 2022 a person in power can say such a thing. This is ignorance of human rights and equality, says KyivPride’s spokesperson Oksana Solonska.

This is not the first time that Alexei Arestovich has caused a stir. He has criticized citizen activism by saying that Ukraine only succeeds in those things that the hands of activists cannot reach.

Arestovich is too reported (you switch to another service), that he will not allow Ukraine to be built into a “big country with a small culture”. He pointed out that monoculturalism is not suitable for Ukraine, but in his opinion society should be developed around multiculturalism.

Citizen activists, who have been fighting for their own Ukrainian culture and trying to break away from the influence of Russian culture, took the comments as an insult.

After the uproar, the president’s office had to react. It informed that Arestovič is not the official speaker of the office but that he must be treated as “a kind of freelancer”.

According to the office, most of Arestovič’s statements are useful, as they provoke discussion in society.

Arestovič responded to the homophobia in his own way. He posted a screenshot of an old video of him playing a woman wearing a blonde wig. In the video, he states that he is being persecuted.

– Such behavior does not fit the image of a state that wants to join the European Union and prove to the world that it is developing in a better direction, regrets Solonska.

During the war, Arestovich became one of the most famous figures in the Ukrainian leadership. In the Ukrainian-language Wikipedia, the article about him is the most read right after the page about the Russian invasion.

KyivPride has responded to Arestovič’s claims: LGBT+ propaganda does not exist, according to the organization, and the Pride parade is a demonstration for rights and not a propaganda tool.

KyivPride urged Arestovič to familiarize himself with the activities of the LGBT soldiers for equality organization. Its members are openly homosexual soldiers who served in the Ukrainian army and defend the rights of sexual minorities.

– “People with abnormalities” protect you so that you could make such videos, wrote KyivPride to Arestovich.

The Ukrainian LGBT Soldiers for Equality organization was founded in 2018. Since then, hundreds of soldiers have come out openly. The very next year, 30 of them participated as their own group in the Kyiv Pride parade.

This year, due to the war, the entire procession could not be organized in Kyiv, but it was moved as part of the Warsaw Equality March in June.

– It was already our tenth procession. It is difficult to estimate how many people participated in the KyivPride column, because there were Ukrainian flags everywhere, but we are talking about two or three thousand, says Solonska.

The organization behind the list criticizes Ukraine for not addressing the aggression and school bullying experienced by sexual minorities. In addition, freedom of speech is restricted and gender-neutral unions have not been officially recognized.

– During the war, it is very difficult to see the general picture of the situation, especially in occupied areas. The war hits everyone who experiences inequality the worst: women, the disabled or the LGBT+ community, sums up Solonska.

However, some progress has been made. Numerous organizations supporting gender minorities operate in the country. Two years ago, the human rights commissioner appealed to the Ukrainian parliament to approve registered partnerships, but the matter was not discussed.

In June of this year, a citizens’ initiative was launched to legalize gender-neutral marriages. A little over 10,000 of the required 25,000 votes have already been collected. KyivPride thinks this is a somewhat unrealistic goal.

– It is still too early to talk about gender-neutral marriages, because the Ukrainian constitution defines marriage as a union between a woman and a man. We think the first thing to do is to legalize registered partnerships, Solonska explains.